Code Geass: Dreams and Nightmares in the stars
by gameboy5432
Summary: How did I get here? Different world, different face, different personality. Well it involves poisoned drinks, crazy luck, a lot of pain, and my personal favorite stupidity and the eternal question of why such a combination exists and what it has against good and honest folk and me of course. Lelouch Vi Britannia; Freelance Potions Maker (CG/B:ASOE fusion) Original title:
1. 595th chapter, 891st volume, 13th librar

Prologue.

' _Nothing is impossible, just improbable.'_

That's the concept that defines reality in any place and at any time.

T _h_ is one starts in a re _a_ lm th _a_ t is beyond ti _m_ e and s _p_ ace, bet _w_ een e _x_ ist _e_ nce and _n_ othingness, f _a_ r removed from heaven and hell, yet at the s _a_ me time it's as closest to those realms as such a thing is possible.

This place is not on a _n_ y map, nor is there an _y_ way to make one, yet it is not a hidden realm.

It cannot be found if you look for it, but yo _u_ enter and leave as often as  once a day and traversing it is impossible with effort but comes natural w _i_ th rest, and sometimes you remember it and sometimes you don't, but you where there, especially _w_ hen you weren't.

This plane of existence has countless names, _w_ hich have all been heard in an infinite number of languages, across innumerable galaxies and b _o_ undless universes.

This land is both beauty and ugliness combin _e_ d, both salvation and damnation, but its description alone cannot be comprehended thoroughly i _n_ mere words, so let us stop here and let us name this place "the realm".

Here in 'the realm', its only inhabitants for t _hi_ s particular time and in this particular version are the 'Amurg' , ancient creatures whose place of o _r_ igin has long been lost to the sands of time.

Amongst a gathering of various different 'A _m_ urg', beings of all shapes, colors and sizes, who were gathered in a circle and playing a game of _ca_ rds, a new one approached the group.

"Do any of you know where Deux is?" the _A_ murg asked the group.

"Oh, it's you! Ye Just got here didn't you?" _o_ ne _of_ the players turned from the game and looked at the newcomer…The first new Amurg in a long, long time to arrive at this realm. Initially his coming had caused a small stir in a realm that was usually ruled by monotony since its inhabitants were all immortal, but that soon died out and new question about the appearance of a new Amurg, or what werethe consequences of his appearance were quickly forgotten so they could focus on more important matters.

Namely gambling.

" _Wh_ y do you want to find Deux? The guy's a little weird, why don't you join the _g_ ame, come here and r _e_ lax." another one said and gestured for the newcomer to join the collective w _i_ th what could be c _o_ nsidered a friendly smile, at least to higher beings it was a friendly smile.

"G _amble, waste time, that's all you do all day! How can you do that and not g_ o _insane from boredom i_ s _beyond my comprehension and since I have access to unlimited knowledge a_ n _d wisdom that says a l_ o _t!"_ The Amurg thought to himself angrily as he glared at the others.

"I _co_ u _ld tell_ y _ou all wh_ at _a disgrace_ yo _u're actions are,_ ho _w you wast_ e _your_ _gre_ at _potential, I could r_ a _nt, rave or give calm compelling arguments, but…Would you learn from th_ e _m? Would you listen t_ o _them, would you understand my words…..Would you even acknowledge th_ e _m? No…..Because you d_ o _n't care, nobody does, so in the end it doesn't matter."_ he added to his train _o_ f thoughts and once th _at_ was over he took a small breath of air to calm himself down.

"I j _u_ st want to ask him a question, so does anyone know where he is?"

"H _e's_ sometimes west of here in the sandfields of a thousand nights, today's th _e_ day after the th _o_ usandth one, so you should be able find him there right about now." One o _f_ them replied.

Th _e_ Amurg then turned to leave but was stopped by one last question.

"Af _ter_ you finish that, do you want to join the game?" Another one said to him wi _th_ a degree enthusiasm that was mirrored by the other players.

"Does it matter if I join in?" he replied without turning back.

" _Of_ course it does! T _he_ game changes in so many _wa_ ys!" Another one answered _an_ d went on to d _e_ scribe in great detail the many ways in which the game would change.

T _he_ new comer then turned his head slightly back at the game, just enough so he could gaze at the players, at these creatures of immeasurable power and infinite potential who's most important a _c_ tivity and greatest desire was a card game. Words failed him as he once more felt anger at this waste of infinite potential, so the Amurg just tuned his head back in the direction he was going, l _e_ aving behind the confused all-powerful beings, who quickly got over it and continued with their g _a_ me.

 _He_ walked towards the area where they said Deux would be with as much rigor as he could muster, spurred on by a subconscient defense mechanism that told him to leave the group as soon as possible, l _e_ st he too be infected by this 'disease' of laziness and the sheer lunacy of having the universe at your f _i_ ngertips and only using those fingers to draw from a deck.

A _f_ ter a whil _e_ he finall _y_ arrived at the s _a_ ndfields and st _ar_ ted looking ar _ou_ nd for his q _ua_ rry.

"T _r_ ough the warp and from the shadows and barren desert fields.

Does a whisper come to be heard!"

" _Of_ a tail of one hundred billion light years.

And a million galaxies' words!"

T _he_ Amurg heard someone singing and looked around for the source.

"H _ea_ r the tale of invincible strength that is born from a decade's long brew."

"A _n_ d a thousand admirals who faced that force, but can never seem to break trough!"

"He _a_ r the tales of the great kings, queens and a hundred princes, who have the universe at their beck and call."

"B _ut_ the one th _in_ g that their h _ea_ rts desires, the _y_ will never h _av_ e it at all!"

"Of ancient stories! Everlasting ballads!"

"Who change every time,

" Every verse; every rhyme,"

"When the story is told one more time!"

He looked to where the 'moonlight' of this realm shinned and from there he saw a shape that was flying down towards him, it was a floating two horse carriage that was filled with merchandise and it was its driver was the one that was singing.

"So come with me now, to the place beyond mirrors and light!"

"Where hidden secrets are in plain view for the worthy to find;"

"To where? I do not know, so come and see the things hidden in plain sight!"

"To long forgotten realms, that appears when you open your mind!"

"See a place which is more uncanny than what you imagined could be;"

"From the deep dreamland, to the heaven's endless sky!"

"As what's real is stranger than any fiction I you could see."

"As the truth is more unbelievable than a lie!"

The carriage finally descended before him and its driver looked at the Amurg with glee in its eyes.

"Are you Deux?" he asked the figure made out of black mist and white flesh, with eyes that did not blink who was sitting in the driver's seat, his shape and form was forever changing, with the only thing that remained constant was his three pairs of eyes and his strange hands that had claws which seemed like they were not made to tear flesh.

"Oh it's you, you came much earlier than I expected!" Deux said to him with an eerily cheerful voice as he gazed at the new Amurg which had a humanoid appearance, was dressed in what appeared to be a long flowing robe, with a square cap on his head with a piece of cloth streaming down one side, but the most distinct thing about him was the fact that when you looked at his face, not matter how hard you tried you could not see any distinguishable facial features, he could have been anybody and yet he appeared to be nobody.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You don't remember do you?" Deux asked him.

"Remember what?"

"What you were before you became an Amurg of course!"

"Of course I don't! You've been here longer than me and you haven't even learned that by now!?" the new comer replied.

Upon hearing the second half of the sentence a great smile appeared on his faces.

"Sorry, just asking, so why are you here?"

"I'm here to ask if you are Deux."

"And if I am what of it?"

"I heard that Deux was bored of this realm and went on a journey to visit the other realms, I want to do the same, but since there are so many I want to hear your story, so that I may know which one is the most fun of them all, after spending who knows how much time in this cesspool of boredom I need that! So will you tell me about your journey?" The Amurg replied.

"So you want me to tell you my story, ey? Why I have lots of stories! For example the story of this great blade! Why this is the blade of the one who faced a billion foes and fought a thousand battles and won all of them! Well one of his many weapons actually."

"That looks like a field plow and a cheap one made from different scraps cobbled together!"

"I know sir! You want only the best and I the greatest merchant of all have it! For example this is the secret weapon of the greatest spy that has ever lived!" Deux said and handed him the aforementioned object to examine.

"Twenty two gardenias from Halina's flower emporium, one dinner reservation with at the Rotzwenen, one new camera.' this looks like some secretaries to do book! What possible use could a spymaster have for this as a tool for espionage warfare? Reschedule them to death!?"

"I know sir! And as such I feel obliged to hand you our greatest item yet! Why, within this jar is the means with which half a universe was united and the other half conquered!"

"That, my friend is a jar filled with sand!" the Amurg paused to let that statement sink in.

"Are you actually trying to sell me sand, here in a desert!" the statement was so 'unique' that the one who said it had trouble believing that he actually said such words.

"I see your right again sir, enough with the cheap stuff! Let's get to the high caliber merchandise! As such I have-"

"Forget this! If you're not going to tell me of your journey them I'm goin-"

"-the journal in which I wrote down my travels." Deux said and the Amurg paused mid turn and returned his gaze to Deux.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?!"

"Well, I got to make a living don't I?"

"You're an immortal creature who doesn't need to eat and can make anything from nothing by merely thinking about it! What possible need would you have for an income?!"

"About the same reason another immortal creature would seek out a traveler's stories, when he could just use his powers to see the 'spoilers' himself." Deux said with a wide grin as the other Amurg remained silent for a moment.

"How do I know it's not another piece of junk, like what you showed me before?"

"Why don't I read it to you and if you like it you can buy it, after all a good story is worth reading over and over again wouldn't you agree?"

"All right, let's get started." the Amurg said trying to sound bored and annoyed, but you could detect eagerness in his voice and to that Deux grinned even more, since it was obvious he had hooked a customer.

"Though I must warn you it is a long story, and it will take a while for me to tell all of it."

"We're immortals you idiot!" the Amurg shouted towards Deux in a fit of frustration.

"Alright, aright! Yeeesh, you think with everlasting life you wouldn't be in such a rush!" Deux said to him as he exited the carriage and sat down, he then brought out his journal and reading glasses, took from behind his back a picnic basket and set it down between himself and the Amurg.

He then held the book at an angle that did not allow the Amurg to see the writing on the pages; Deux cleared his voice for a few moments before opening the book.

"What do you need all of this stuff for?" The Amurg asked him.

"Atmosphere of course, if I'm going to tell a story I must look the part, let me read you from my own writings. Now where to begin? " he thought for a while before deciding on one particular story that he enjoyed and started reading it with a smile.

"In one of the many realms of existence, long ago in a galaxy that was once far away but now is close, that although similar to others, it still differed from them greatly!"

"For in this particular galaxy sentient beings had conquered the stars, but instead of using technology as their main tool another one was chosen. Here what powered their space fleets, orbiting stations and gave them strength was magic!"

"This is the story of the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, of those who lived it, those who died during it and those who brought about this new age, of those who did great things, some good, some evil, but great things nonetheless!" Deux read towards the Amurg who for the first time since arriving in this realm he felt happy and if he could he would have smiled.

" _Finally something that matters!"_ he thought to himself as the s tory started.

595th chapter, 891st volume, _13th library_ of the _50_ _th_ _city of knowledge_ , 7th universe, 974.593 cycle of eternity.

 _ **When my eyes are weighed with sleep I quench the evening candle's glow  
**_

 _ ***Excerpt, from the works of Grand Scholar, and The Great War Expert Djanus Todomari from the Imperium Archives***_

 _On Caliupus 27_ _th_ _, Imperial year 1898, Federal year 3941, and Republican year 953 on the small home world of the Tolstoy sector, a Federal fleet clashed for less than 3 hours with an Imperial one. This small battle which was the first shot in The Great War was situated above a place called Graperust Manor, owned by a Novo Albetan lawyer called William Murasaki Kuckluck._

 _After the Battle of Graperust, mister Murasaki said that he had enough of the whole affair and decided to move his family 560.000 light-years to a town called New Hope within the Tremera system, to a house called Woodgrom Courthouse with the intention of avoiding the war in its entirety._

 _Years later the commanders of the belligerent forces came to that very same courthouse to sign the ending of all hostilities. So when it was over Mr Murasaki could boast that the war began on his front lawn porch and ended in his backyard gazebo._

 _The Great War raged across millions of star systems, billions of planets and trillions of light years, within it farm workers from Nova Bronze City of the Towar System, clashed with fisherman from Seshrim 9, lawyers and schoolteachers from the Brumbaki Plains of Bulla 8 with doctors and accountants from The Tjigu asteroid cluster._

 _Whole nations and ways of life would disappear only to be replaced by new ones and within this age of chaos great heroes and villains would emerge, several sentients would join the war, each from the three superpowers, they would be at the most crucial and most bloody of the battles and somehow survive them all, and give testimony of just how unrealistic reality could become._

 _A smuggler would save a country , a shadow warrior would emerge from the darkness, a rebel would reshape the galaxy, a sentient would change the way things were forever, and a potions brewer who did not go a single day to military school would become the greatest commander the known universe had ever seen or perhaps would ever see. So the sands of time flowed and with their passing the universe changed forevermore._

 _ **Grand Scholar and Great War Expert Djanus Todomari**_

 _ **Imperium Archives**_

 **Caliupus 8** **th** **Imperial year 1894, Federal year 3937, Republican year 949**

 **Within the warp.**

 **9:52 Imperial Fleet Time**

A great train traversed the thin plane of hyperspace, it was a massive construct composed of at least 2.000 individual wagons, each one of them was over a hundred meters in diameter and stretched for at least five times that, but despite the titanic nature of this interstellar vehicle by the standards of its kind it was the runt of the litter.

These wagons where forged out of fine tempered steel with a smooth surface and each wagon's front and back ended with a conic shape head and tail.

Seven great horizontal sheets of metal extended across their bodies, starting at the front and ending at the rear of each wagon, runes which glowed bright with energy where embedded on these stripes and from them magical energy was released for the purpose of moving and guiding the train towards its destination.

These bursts of energy started as a single line, that at certain points of its length bent upwards, downwards, left and right, and at each bent smaller lines formed from them, which they themselves bent and made new ones emerge, giving the magic the shape of a great tree branch that looked like it sprouted from lighting itself.

But it was only the shape of a plant and nothing more, for the purpose of this train was not the production of breathable air or that of fruits or flowers.

No, its purpose was transportation and among its cargo where two very important passengers.

A surge of energy, which was called since ancient times a gust of warp wind shook the space train, not enough to cause any damage or deviate it from its course, but enough to wake up one of the occupants of its VIP room from his nap.

For a few brief moments confusion and disorientation dominated his person, that was generally what happened when you traverse the realm of reality and the realm of dreams and no more so than when you are inside the warp which existed outside both of them.

For it was a very mysterious and unnerving place and even veteran sailors and soldiers where not to comfortable with passing through this plane which seemed to be nowhere yet everywhere at the same time.

As for the drivers of this train the feeling of dread caused by venturing in a place outside of what you considered your 'normal reality' was present to them as well. Even though they've learned to overcome it and even partially control it, its presence remained an eerie reminder that they didn't belong here.

So you should now be able to understand the temporary confusion of the aforementioned passenger, but that quickly gave away to remembrance, as he now reacquainted himself with this plane of existence and thus the confusion disappeared as his mind recovered from the daze and remembered everything and realized that he was on a galactic train, souring in the limitless heavens of space towards its stop.

It was an Imperial Fleet supply train, carrying essential food, medicine, clothing, and ammunition for the 378th Corps that was stationed on planet Volun 4. The train slithered its way through the warp like some great celestial dragon towards its destination with those supplies, along with the aforementioned corps's new commander and his knight and chief of staff.

Namely the newly minted Commodore First Class Lelouch per Pelasgiamus and his knight Commodore third class Jeremiah de Morowetz.

Lelouch was a unique creature amongst the Empire, his hair was black as night and shortly trimmed, but not in a military stile, more like a summer style.

His skin was dark blue, which was not unheard of in the Empire but not entirely common and finally his eyes where perhaps the most unique thing about him, for their retina was a blue one, but his sclera was of a bright glowing red, which combined with his skin and his voice which was low and a bit gruff made him a very imposing visual figure.

His uniform consisted of black leather boots, black pants that were secured to his waist by a belt, along with as sheathed sword on his left side, a dagger on the back side of his belt, and a one handed crossbow on his right, his chest was covered in a black tunic, on his shoulder pads where three golden bars that symbolized his rank of Commodore First Class.

On his chest where it curbed to his sides was two lines of gold buttons united by a series of golden ropes that traversed his chest, they where for both decorative and practical purposes, since the real buttons where on the inner side of the left flap of the tunic.

He looked like someone who was born for war, who belonged on the battlefield, who would stand when others would fall, that was something no one could deny! Too bad he was a coward.

"Did you sleep well my liege?" Jeremiah asked him, he was dressed in the exact same uniform as Lelouch but there was one bar on each shoulder to display his rank of Third Class.

Jeremiah was an Avian, his race was humanoid in its appearance, he had white feathers encompassing his entire skin, a great golden beak for a mouth and two black eyes that looked like they were constantly zoning into space, also his aforementioned feathers where ruffled and his beak had a slight dent in it, giving poor Jeremiah the appearance more aching to a crazed half dead chicken than that of a professional soldier. But he was anything but weak, as his past foes or rather the absence of past foes, or any foes for that matter was a very good testament to his skill.

"About as well as one can, given the current circumstances." Lelouch replied and Jeremiah gave a nod of agreement and said nothing else, he too felt uncomfortable traveling through hyperspace, but he was more unnerved by being on a train instead of a ship than the fact that he was in the warp.

"I've been meaning to ask Jeremiah, why when we are about to meet new people do you always stop grooming yourself?" Lelouch enquired.

"People don't take you seriously when they first meet you if you don't look pretty, their true nature comes out easier that way, good thing wouldn't you say?" Jeremiah asked and gave a slight smile to his commander, one which Lelouch returned in kind.

Ever since they first met, Lelouch had always treated him with the upmost respect and professionalism you'd come to expect an officer of his rank to give and receive, that had made an impression on Jeremiah, which was what eventually convinced him to become Lelouch's follower, a fact that the Commodore would be secretly grateful for but also secretly resentful for the rest of his life, but generally more times he would be the former rather than the latter.

The seconds ticked away in silence and seeing that the conversation had died down for the moment, Lelouch decided to once more go over the briefing papers he had been given for his new command.

He was using a farview screen to review them and after that was done he started to once more research the culture of the opposing nation.

The farview or rather this variant of it, was a rectangular shaped mass of crystals with magic runes embedded on its surface, that when activated a mist like gas would emerge from its screen and take the shape and color of whatever the farview's user desired, or if he preferred it could only project 2d images on its surface, it was very flexible device!

It was also a very useful tool, one which Lelouch regularly used since he could have hundreds or thousands of books stored on it, making it easier to carry and ideal for alleviating boredom.

But as they got closer and closer to their destination, he silently wished for eternal boredom.

" _I'll take a lifetime of boredom over any war or battle, at least boredom doesn't come running towards you with a big sharp magical weapon with the intent to play squash with your head!"_ he thought to himself, hoping that this tranquility would last forever, but like all good things it had to eventually come to an end, for a beeping sound was heard from the ships internal speakers signaling that they were getting near the exit of the warp and that soon they would be arriving at they're destination.

"It is a good thing that they decided to use a warp portal train instead of a ship to get us there, last thing we need is some bloody raid ambushing us before we arrive at our new command." Jeremiah said to his liege.

"Well, despite the best attempts of the seemingly universal and unstoppable power of stupidly to make a wrong decision, the vile forces of logic and reasoning have seemingly prevailed and vanquished this oh, so great foe!" Lelouch said in a hammy tone which clearly indicated he was joking and Jeremiah showed his appreciation with a good chuckle.

A warp portal was as its name suggests, a portal that is situated on a planet or in outer space which allows faster travel trough the warp if a ship is not using a portal, making it at least twice as fast if not more depending on the state of the warp between two points, the size of the gate and the amount of power it had access too.

Also, when in hyperspace there was the danger of being ripped apart by gravity fields or energy nexuses if a ship was not in peak condition or low on power and if it was traversing a less than ideal hyperspace route, well you get the general idea.

Why a wandering comet, a small dust field, of even the remains of a small passing solar flare could tear a ship apart!

A warp portal along with the great power provided by either the sun or a planet's energy nexus engulfed a ship or in this case a train in a protective field as it traversed the warp, protecting it to a certain degree from such perils and shredding whatever was in its way, as long as it was not too great an obstacle.

Also ships who did not use jump gates had to have a build in warp sanctuary and plenty of power crystals to make the jump, a ship using a jump gate would not require an expensive warp sanctuary or power storage crystals in order to jump, all the ship needed was it to be was airtight, also the energy required to enter and exit the warp was provided by the starting gate and the destination gate, thus the gates where faster and cheaper and that was always the way to go.

But for all its advantages the aforementioned warp train had no means of its own to enter and exit warp without a gate.

It was also impossible for trains to change and adjust their route when using one, this was one area where they where outclassed by ships.

Also if you're enemies manage to find just the right conditions along you're potential route with the train, they could pull you out of the warp and ambush you, a train of course could be retrieved with a special support ship designed just for that purpose and be back on its way, but until then it was vulnerable to attack.

But that was a moot point since military trains where armed to the teeth, that combined with their long bodies gave them excellent options for defense, they could form a protective sphere or dodecahedron, which unlike ships had no vulnerable point and had excellent anti-light ships defenses, it truly was the safest way to travel when confronted with pirates or enemy space raiders.

Fully fledged warships where an entirely different matter and when it came to that a ship was the way to go if you wanted to outmaneuver and outrun them.

So it was a constant debate between the advantages of rigidness but high security against greater flexibility with freedom but also the presence of an unknown danger and many supporters of both sides argued day and night over which was best.

For both means of transportation had their pros and cons, but for the current route which took the train trough friendly territory and lands in which the Empire was the dominant power (at least for now) the train was best suited for such a purpose, also many would think that a fleet corps commander would never 'lower' himself to ride a simple train instead of a battleship and that was also the reason Metty chose this, since it also gave him the element of surprise over his potential enemies.

And for the young Commodore First Class that thought brought him some piece of mind from his troubles.

" _Though I am grateful that I will not have to worry about being torn to shreds by some small space pebble or flying into a mine field and being ambushed while traversing or entering a new system, the idea that I have to face death sooner rather than latter is not a very appealing one."_

Lelouch thought to himself as he lamented the sad state of affairs he currently found himself in and within his mind he briefly looked back on how he had arrived to his current predicament, thoughts that he would eventually write down in his posthumous memoirs.

Author's note.

Hello.

I'm the author of B: ASOE and what I'm about to do is a reverse 50 shades.

Which means instead of taking my fan fiction, changing the names and publishing it.

I will write a fanfiction about my fiction where my fictional main character has a name swap with Lelouch from Code Geass.

Yup! I'm that lazy and that desperate.

And for those of you who say that it's immoral, a bad story, that i'm a $^$%^45 and #$%34, 4#%#$%#$% and a great big #$% #$ #$ #$ #%$%^%$ $!$, well I am.

Even so i hope you enjoy it, if not well that's even better.

Bad reviews are great for spreading word of mouth.


	2. Ch 2-Extract from the book Confessions,

Ch 2

 _Extract from the book "Confessions, an Admirals tale volume I"_

 _For the past three years I had been a sailor in the Imperial navy, since that was what the state wanted of its citizens whether they were willing or not and despite my titanic efforts to avoid the whole war, fate had other plans for me!_

 _Before the war I was running a medical transport business and one day my ship was boarded by a pirate raiding party from the Republic and like any sane sentient with half a brain I immediately surrendered and asked for parole, which was a fancy way of saying: 'If I do not fight you and surrender all my goods, you will do me the honor of not introducing my brain to your axe'._

 _It worked out for the most part, the aforementioned Republicans seemed alright ,about as alright as killers and thieves and God knows what other kind of madmen and women from one of the most savage dictatorship know to the galaxy could be._

 _It was only myself and Suzaku that day and I am grateful for the fact that none of the women who sometimes served on my ship where present._

 _Thrust me, those Republicans may look like pleasant fellows, with they're silky long hair, pointy ears, shiny skin, and deep beautiful eyes and absolutely gorgeous humanoid anatomy( just because I don't like them, doesn't mean I can't admit they're pretty!) but that's the only good thing about them._

 _Though I am not saying that their particular brand of savagery was worst that the one practiced by the Empire or Federation oh no, we all had an equal timeshare in that, theirs was just of a different flavor, that's all._

 _And to be hones as individuals they were pretty decent fellows._

 _That is if you're not they're rivals, of which the Imperium or Empire as it was called back then (and is still used in battle cries) found itself at that particular moment in time._

 _As they looted our ship taking anything they could: pills, syrup, cushions, fabric and fabric samples for footstools (seriously what kind of pirates steals stool samples?) at one point they opened the crates that contained bottles filled with medicinal alcohol._

 _Alcohol that was to be specifically used externally and only externally!_

 _And pirates being pirates they immediately opened the bottles and started drinking it, granted the alcohol was put into recycled wine bottles, but unlike what the press would want you to believe, we did not intentionally put them in those bottles in the faint hope that pirates would pop out of nowhere and start consuming them, but rather the fact that the bottles were cheap, at the ready and reliable for our purposes and since our venture was a small one we needed every penny we could skim!_

 _So I tried frantically to warn them, because honestly who deserves a slow and painful death? But my pleas fell on deaf ears, mostly from the fact that they did not speak Imperial Standard and I was not familiar with their language, that and the fact that at that point in time the two of us where both tied and gagged in a corner of the room, made my chivalrous intentions doomed to failure._

 _Well not a total failure, the by then half drunken pirates where having a good laugh at how the two of us where moaning and struggling with the ropes and gags as we tried to stop them and one of our viewers liked out impromptu mime show so much that he decided to reward me with a good kick in the chest that made me collapse to the ground and elicit a bout of laughter from his comrades._

 _A moment later the rest of our adoring audience joined in to let me know just how much they 'appreciated' me and they appreciated me a lot!_

 _It only lasted a few moments but it was like hell, but even so I wanted to stop them from consuming the alcohol._

 _And to those of you who did not spent their youth studying medicine, the reason medicinal alcohol is not used for consumption is that there is the danger of it containing methanol, which is a very poisonous type of alcohol, why just 10 ml of the stuff can render you permanently blind and 30 ml can kill you!_

 _Now don't misunderstand, every bottle of medicinal alcohol is purified before being released to the general public, but the main problem with our stock was that we where transporting it to a purifying facility! And with those idiots chugging it down their throats like it was ice tea on a beach you can guess what followed immediately after._

 _Now, I was not to fond of them back then and my opinion over the years has not changed by much, but even if they where a cutthroat band of thieves and murderers, who if they could they would have sold both me and Suzaku to be some plantation owner's slaves or worst playthings, but as I said before a slow and painful death in which you become blind, you're insides burned, every muscle in your body spasmed and intense pain jolted throughout your body was not something I would wish on anyone, not even them!_

 _So I laid there on the floor waiting for the inevitable and when it came it was truly horrible, a great scream of agony erupted from every pirate, forming a hellish choir that could be heard from all over the ship, as one by one the poor souls had their fates sealed._

 _As the grotesque scene unfolded around me, a sudden flash of light and a great boom came from my left, I turned my head to see what had just happened. Much to my horror, I discovered that one of the pirates in his pain induced frenzy had fired an arrow into one of his comrades, incinerating the poor or fortunate taffer in an instant._

 _This made all hell break loose or rather more of it, as the pirates started firing their bows and swinging their sword and maces around causing an inferno of fire, water, ice, wind, earth to engulf the corridors, of my ship and the pirate's ship._

 _Suzaku managed to get hold of a broken bottle and cut his bonds free and bless his souls he dragged my beaten and bloodied body to the sleeping quarters, where we locked the doors and waited for the carnage to end._

 _After a few minutes of what can only be describe as a wall of horrid sounds, silence fell and after untying me and waiting what seemed like an eternity, we armed ourselves with the axes that our ship had in case of fire outbreaks, opened the doors and cautiously peered out to have a look._

 _What we saw was something out off a horror movie, bodies laid everywhere, blood, excrement, and piss pouring out from them, the walls where filled with scars from the weapons discharge and a foul smell of death permeated the entire hull._

 _We continued our little journey throughout the ship, driven by a curiosity, which when you stop to think about it was borderline suicidal, but to our luck every pirate had consumed the alcohol._

 _After a few minutes we located the captain of this pirate crew and after a few gentle prods from my axe, we could finally relax._

 _I thought that the worst was over and gave out a breath of relief, when all of a sudden the ship shook violently. Suzaku and myself gave each other a look of worry, we both hoped that the warp sanctuary had not been damaged, when all of a sudden the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the ship as the door before us was blasted open and armed warrior poured in._

 _Much to our relief it was the Imperial Fleet who had boarded our vessel, the cavalry had arrived! A little late for my taste, but that's big government for you!_

 _And I must say the look on their faces was priceless, behind me there was a corridor filled with battle scars, dead pirates all about and there I was bruised and bloodied, standing atop of the pirate captain with a bloody axe in hand( courtesy of my prodding of the corpse a moment ago to ensure that he had expired)._

 _At that moment I felt like I was on cloud nine, but unfortunately for me, news of that incident spread far and wide, word of Captain Lelouch who single handedly killed 50 pirates with his bare hands became the talk of the local subsector._

 _After that a bunch of reporters came to cover the story and Suzaku being the sly business man that he was, charged them heavily for each interview, thus things where looking bright for us!_

 _We had gotten out of a tight spot alive, we now had a very healthy sum of money to help our business expand and we were small town heroes in our neck of the woods (something the ladies appreciated) it was a small piece of heaven, but regretfully it did not last._

 _For a certain Commodore James Crackerjack had heard of our little adventure and the brainless glory hound immediately showed up a few days later and demanded I transfer to his command, the fact that I was a civilian and my trade was 'potions making' which by law protected me from drafting since I worked in healthcare was completely ignored by the tosser and despite my best efforts to get into his thick skull, the idiot ignored logic and reasoning and continued to press the issue._

 _Under normal circumstances I would have walked away, but remember that he was not some regular loony but a loony with a license to kill from the state, that and old James was not only a fool, he was a fool with a fleet of a hundred warships behind him and so much to my horror, they gave me my uniform, slapped a couple of golden buttons on my collar to show that I was now officially a Captain and thus I was dragged into the fleet._

 _Suzaku was ignored in all of this, that much was owned to the fact that sentients tend to only acknowledge the apparent leader of a group when that group allegedly does something impressive, so I somehow managed to convince Old Mad Jack to let him go on the grounds that he was my underling and he had to make sure my businesses' where looked after, him being an aristocrat and having some semblance of a brain nodded and let it be so and I was glad for that, I mean no sense in both of us going to hell I suppose._

 _So that's how I found myself being torn from a safe place, a newly minted Captain, given a ship which I christened 'The Vampire's Vengeance', with a crew that consisted at the top of the following: first officer Lieutenant James 'Butcher' Centengu, Logistics officer Sergeant Alega 'Baker' Sovorovda, and finally science and engineering officer Lieutenant Lloyd Colomas 'Candlestickmaker' Firebark and with this we were sent to fight in various mini wars and full blown wars over the years leading up to the Great War._

 _And that my readers, is how my inglorious career began, with poisoned drinks, crazy luck, a lot of pain, and my personal favorite stupidity and the eternal question of why such a combination exists and what it has against good and honest folk and me of course._

 _Lelouch vi Britannia , Freelance Potions Maker_

"Nuts!" Lelouch muttered under his breath as his mind stopped its wondering and returned to the present.

And with the memories of how he had arrived at his current predicament still fresh in his mind, he for a few minutes entered into a slight depression, which was comparable to that of a canary who upon being captured in the jaws of a cat became impatient and said to the aforementioned feline: 'just do it already!' with indifference to its fate.

He thought of his current situation.

On the one hand having a few hundred ships _a_ nd several thousands of warriors to stand behind when the warp cannons, missiles and energy be _a_ ms _s_ tarted fl _y_ ing was a good thing, on the other he also had to worry about even more enemy soldiers targ _e_ ting him, so a mixed blessing at best!

After his first battle and the first sight of his de _a_ d soldiers he had tried to think of his subordinates as nothing but tools, tried to distance himself fro _m_ them, hoping to ease his guilt when they would eventually die in future battles, but it did not _w_ ork and no matter how many victories he achieved and despite knowing that he couldn't have done a _n_ ything better in the past to avoid his subordinates dying, he still wondered if he could have saved the _m_.

Maybe if he had been faster, stronger or sma _r_ ter he could have prevented more of his soldiers from dying, but that was not possible and even no _w,_ years after he was drafted he could still remember just how many had died, what their last moment _s_ where, but what really weight heavily on his mind was the fact that he was starting to forget their name _s_ and they're faces where starting to slip from his mind.

He knows that before he manages to leave th _e_ fleet, he will have forgotten even more names and faces and that would haunt him forever, making hi _m_ contemplate the 'easy' way out.

After a few minutes Lelouch banished tho _se_ vile thoughts, since in his opinion life was always worth living and you had to do your best to get over _y_ ou're more difficult moments and move on.

That and the prospect of being turned into a c _or_ pse if he didn't snap out of it and get his act together or the prospect of eternal hellfire for choosing _t_ he 'easy way' made him come to his senses.

Releasing out a breath of mental exhaustion, h _e_ placed the farview he was using to research the culture of the Volunians on the table and laid back and _r_ elaxed for a few minutes.

"A sad state of affairs this is Lord Lelouch, _t_ his corps has a lot of good warriors and officers, properly deployed it is deadly, yet it is being misused in _a_ tertiary role in the war against Volunia!" Jeremiah lamented to his master as he took out a small b _o_ x from his pocket, extracted a pill from it and swallowed the pill, breaking Lelouch's state _o_ f mind with a not unwelcomed distraction from his less than cheerful thoughts.

"Don't linger too much on feelings of regret, thin _k_ positive thoughts or you run the risk or seeing even the good side of life as meaningless." he replied.

"Yes sir, but I'm still a little depressed at this stat _e_ of affairs." Jeremiah replied.

"Don't be, I'm rather pleased myself!" Lelouch said to his knight.

"My lord?" Jeremiah replied as he turned his head towards his liege, his head filled with confusion.

"Why do you think I accepted this commission?"

"For the challenge?" Jeremiah said to his commander with a smile on his face, one that grew bigger once Lelouch gave a nod of the head as his reply.

" _But what I really meant to say is that here there is little chance of us being slaughtered by elite units from the enemy, thus we may be able to spent the whole war without the danger of us getting killed, but that's just my opinion, it only applies to me and I doubt it matters much to others."_ Lelouch thought to himself. He then looked at Jeremiah and started to wonder if his knight did not have certain problems, since Jeremiah always showed great doubt one moment and great resolve the next and despite not b _ei_ ng an expert on the behavior of Jeremiah's species, he wondered if not perhaps he was also w _e_ aring a m _a_ sk _a_ nd knowing a thing or two about living a lie, he could understand if sometimes you let t _h_ e mask sl _i_ p, but that _w_ as a train of thought for another time, especially since the warp train was reach _i_ ng its d _e_ stination.

J _us_ t then his comm _u_ nication crystal started vibrating, indicating that someone wanted to talk t _o_ him.

H _e_ touched the cryst _a_ l with his finger and it morphed into the small shape of a serpentine creat _u_ re with g _re_ y scales, who was d _r_ essed in the same manor of uniform as the two had, but instead of the tri _c_ orn _ca_ ps which he and Jeremiah wore, this serpentine creature wore a side cap that made it clear hew _a_ s a st _a_ ff officer and not a co _mm_ and one. His uniform stretched from his neck down to the end of hi _s_ body, e _n_ gulfing him entirely in th _e_ dark material, the sailor belonged to the Balfarmaini, sentients who _w_ here a _s_ erpent like race that had n _o_ arms or legs , but they made due with a very powerful telekinetic _a_ bility w _h_ ich allowed them to levit _a_ te and use objects close to their bodies, this ability was very hand _y_ to the af _o_ rementioned Metty, sinc _e_ this was Lieutenant Butz his personal aide who had been with h _i_ m for al _m_ ost as long as Jeremiah had b _e_ en, and served as his assistant, driver, bodyguard, and whateve _r_ other rol _e_ was needed, that was pointe _d_ out by the fact that Butz's body was covered in all kinds of p _o_ uches fill _e_ d with everything from food, to d _r_ ink, to medicine and all kinds of objects and tools, anythi _n_ g that Lelouch might need.

"M _y_ lord, the train has reached the base." B _u_ tz said to his commander.

"Th _a_ nk you Butz." Lelouch said as he touched th _e_ farview at a certain point which started it' _s_ d _ea_ ctivation process, but not before putting a bookmark _o_ n where he had left off, namely on _t_ he p _a_ inting named " _Fate"._

"T _im_ e to go Jeremiah! You said that this unit contains a lot of gifted _o_ fficers?" he said to Jeremiah a _s_ he he _s_ itated for a few moments, the option of delaying for a while was st _i_ ll open to him, especiall _y_ since te _c_ hnically his new command wouldn't be official until he arrived, but after _a_ moment of delib _e_ ration, h _e_ closed his farview, sealed it with string and they walked towards the train's e _x_ it. After all, th _e_ in _e_ vitable could only be put off for so long.

"Y _e_ s my lord, the corps's commanders where all upper and lower classmates of mine _a_ t the a _c_ ademy an _d_ I can vouch for their skills. They are the finest soldiers in the Empire!" Jeremiah proudly sai _d_ to his liege.

"Then why have they been sent here to a dumping ground unit? Lelouch asked him.

"I have already told you the reason for that sire." Jeremiah replied with regret and disappointment in his voice.

" _Smart officers being sent away so those who are higher in rank but less in skill will not be outshined."_

Lelouch thought to himself and despite feeling a small sensation of joy, since it meant that it was e _v_ en less l _i_ kel _y_ that thi _s_ would bec _o_ me the m _a_ in th _e_ ater of op _e_ ration _s_ , but still he did lament the sad _s_ tate of affairs the Empire seemed to be in since the beginning of its existe _n_ ce or at least since he _a_ rrived.

" N _o_ matter how many or how bright the stars are, they pale when compared to the Su _n,_ so the stars m _a_ ke sure no one sees the glory of the Sun.'" he quoted an ancient war poem to his kn _i_ ght.

"Y _e_ s Excellency, but 'no matter how long or endless the starry night is, it always surre _n_ ders to the sun's m _o_ rning light'." Jeremiah replied to his liege and looked at him with _a_ pr _o_ ud s _m_ ile a _n_ d n _e_ ar her _o_ w _o_ rship i _n_ his eyes.

"Y _o_ u know you don't have to call me that, technically you've got better blood, pedigree, fortune and so _c_ ial rank than me; Hell! Up until three standard years ago I would be the one calling you my lord or so _m_ ething like that." Lelouch said to him.

"Th _a_ t is one of the few positives of war my lord, injustices like what you said earlier are rectified as great lead _e_ rs rise to take their rightful place in society!" he replied.

"I co _n_ sider myself a lucky man and an intelligent one rather than someone who has been blessed by heav _e_ n to be a leader Jeremiah."

"That may be sir, but even then there are few people with those attributes and even fewer that occupy positi _o_ ns of _a_ uthority _a_ nd n _o_ w th _e_ Empire ne _e_ ds them m _o_ re th _a_ n ever, wh _i_ ch i _s_ wh _y_ I b _e_ li _e_ ve y _o_ u're one who is destined for great things!" Jeremiah said and before Lelouch could reply he added th _e_ following:

"The Great Founder of our Empire also said that she was lucky."

At this Lelouch half opened his mouth to counter but decided against it, Jeremiah was the ty _p_ e who was not only stubborn to a degree , but also very smart as well and by doing a quick onceover _o_ f the c _o_ nve _r_ sati _o_ n h _e_ reali _z_ ed th _a_ t he had just inadvertently quoted the Great Founder and his atte _m_ pt to deflate his im _a_ ge had been interpreted by Jeremiah as humility, something that people like Jeremiah took it as somethin _g_ that reinforced the image of the great heroes handpicked by the Force of Creatio _n_ to lead the Empire t _o_ greatness.

So the Comm _o_ d _o_ re o _n_ ly inh _a_ led a de _e_ p breath _o_ f air a _n_ d tri _e_ d t _o_ enjoy _w_ hat f _e_ w peace _f_ ul mom _e_ nts he had left before arriving at the boarding ramp.

" _I may as well quit while I'm ahead, I'll be needing every ounce of wit I posses in order to find a way to somehow survive here at the very edge of the civilized galaxy."_ Lelouch thought to himself as the ramp's door opened and he crossed the point of no return.

 _Excerpt from the diary of Private Raz V'a van;_

 _from the book_

" _ **We were the legionaries of Malus 'The World Breaker'"**_


End file.
